REFUGIO — County residents will see a 7-cent decrease per $100 value in taxes this year.

“The value of oil and gas is about $300 million and residential values stayed about the same, so taxpayers will see a decrease,” said Judge Rene Mascorro.

Charles I. Pentland Jr. asked for a county tax abatement for new residential construction in Tivoli.

Pentland said the new development is behind the Canales Cafe on the east side of Tivoli.

“On Jan. 10, I bought 6.25 acres,” he said.

Pentland has built three small cabins with a second story to go up on one of them. Seven will be built all together.

“This will give you seven more taxpayers,” he told the court.

The court voted to give Pentland the tax abatement that the county has in place.

In road matters, Tivoli rural resident Larry Landgraf asked the court to reconsider his request to move River Road.

“This court thinks it owns River Road... you just have an easement,” he said. “I think I could sue the county and have it moved but fighting is not practical. Sharing the cost is reasonable.”

Robert McGuill, county attorney, told the court the road is not on the list of county roads but was designated a public road with public access in district court.

Although the road is not a designated county road, McGuill said the county had maintained it for 40 years. McGuill will research the matter and the court will revisit the item at the next meeting.

Landgraf said he will not restrict access but wanted the road rerouted for safety purposes.

In Elderly Services transportation matters, Frances Herring told the court she has had difficulty finding rides to her dialysis sessions.

Herring wrote a letter and presented it to the commissioners then gave a brief explanation for her request. Herring said she has been keeping records of how many times she is the only passenger in the county vehicle.

“As a lifelong, taxpaying citizen, I do not understand how you can deny me a ride when others continue to ride,” she said in the letter. “Ms. Collins said it costs too much to take me, but it costs the county no more to let me ride in a car that has an empty seat. Is that really fair? I don’t think so.”

The county judge said elderly services had agreed to take the dialysis patients for three months, until they could find another ride.

“Miss Herring has only been riding since January, but the others have been riding for as long as three years,” Mascorro said.

The court will revisit the matter on Sept. 25 during its next meeting. Both Herring, her doctor and another dialysis patient will be placed on that agenda.

The county-furnished rides to dialysis are scheduled to end Sept. 30.

In Juvenile Justice matters, the county designated 11 detention and residential services that have contracts approved by the Refugio County Juvenile Board on Friday, Aug. 10.

“How many juvenile cases do you have?” asked Commissioner Ann Lopez.

“Eight are on the case load,” said Kate Jones, of the Juvenile Justice Center.

In other matters the commissioners:

• Approved a request from Edith Collins to apply for grant funding for elderly services and to pay her a 5 percent grant writer’s fee for the grants she obtains.

• Acknowledged the employment of Jennifer M. Davis as a dispatcher for the sheriff’s department, effective Sept. 1, at a salary of $32,879 per year.

• Acknowledged the employment of Whitney S. Smith as a secretary for the district attorney’s office, effective Sept. 16, at a salary of $34,790 per year.

• Acknowledged the status change of James E. Bauer III from animal control officer to class II road hand in Pct. 3, effective Sept. 16, with a salary change from $34,050 to $33,246 per year.

• Acknowledged the employment of Richard C. Tovar as a roadhand for Pct. 3, effective Sept. 5 at an hourly rate of $12 per hour.